Emergency Management
Capability Assessment Programme (EMCAP™)

General

 
 
» Will an emergency organisation and plan function
    when and to the extent it is supposed to function ?
 
» Can one identify flaws in emergency management concepts
    before disaster happens ?
 
 
 
The evaluation of the quality and credibility and hence the expected performance of emergency preparedness structures and procedures is a relevant issue.
 
The United States has initiated by the end of the 1990s a Federal programme to a. develop criteria to assess the capability of state authorities and agencies to respond to and adequately manage crisis situations and disasters, and b. evaluate [current] state capabilities throughout the United States of America.
This Capability Assessment for Readiness (CAR) programme was commissioned by the Senate Committee on Appropriations, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) was charged with the execution.
 
Additional information on the CAR initiative and its current status can be found on the CAR page or on the FEMA website.
 
 
CAR has been designed to fit the 'American Situation':
- references to legislation (FEMA regulations, SARA Title III, ...);
- the general concept of incident management (state management); and
- the available resources (National Guard, US Coast Guard, ...),
and is thus less suitable for unmodified use in Europe or elsewhere.

EMCAP™

 
CEMAC has used the general structure of CAR with its 13 Emergency Management Functions and 13 Emergency Support Functions and its scoring technique to develop a modified assessment procedure that is flexible enough to allow for - in principe - worldwide use as tool to evaluate emergency preparedness structures and plans, and to serve as basis for a programme to improve overall disaster preparedness both in public sector and in private enterprises and organisations.
 
This EMCAP™ - Emergency Management Capability Assessment Programme - technique has been field tested during a number of projects in 2000.
 
Version 1 of EMCAP™ is still in use, but the technique itself is subject to continual improvement and fine tuning based on experience gained through effective analyses and through research activities.

The EMCAP™ process

 
EMCAP™ is based on a standard database with questions and reference items covering a multitude of aspects of an organisation's threat environment and level of emergency preparedness.
 
This standard collection is completely parametrisable.
Not all aspects are relevant in view of the evaluation of a specific type of organisation (e.g. a chemical plant vs an education facility or a hotel) and its emergency structures and plans, and hence the database is adapted by changing the parameters linked to the different aspects.
Aspects such as HAZMAT response capability are largely irrelevant in a hotel environment and are therefore filtered out by lowering the parameter value in the overall 'formula'.
 
The first step of the application of EMCAP™ thus involves an analysis of the activities and context of an given organisation to make a tailor made questionaire for the job at hand.
 
Each attribute or characteristic of the pool of Emergency Functions - with a parameter score above zero - is then scored based on a 1-5 scale, with the following meaning:
 
1 = Not Capable
2 = Marginally Capable
3 = Generally Capable
4 = Very Capable
5 = Fully Capable
'n/a' (not applicable) - as a sixth possible entry - refers to the fact that not all functions are present or required or could be evaluated.
 
The evaluation can be based on
- Real-World Experience
    (for example as recorded or observed during an actual incident);
- Exercise Experience
    (preferable during Command Post or Field exercises);
- Document References
    (when it is included in a written plan or procedure);
- Unconfirmed
    (when compliance is presumed but no means are available
      to validate the statement);
or it can be Untested (UT).
 
 
Execution of phase II leads to the generation of a 'balanced score card' of a given organisation's emergency management capability.
This is then used to generate an overall assessment and a shortlist of advised improvements for the various disaster management aspects.
 
EMCAP™ can be used as a stand-alone 'product' or can be integrated in a general programme to improve 'capabilities'.

Additional Information

 
Contact CEMAC directly to find out more about the EMCAP™ project.
Questions, comments, remarks: e-mail
or find contact information on the 'contact' page.
 
EMCAP™ is a trademark of CEMAC.